South Brunswick Police Capt. Thanked by Michelle Lodzinski's Brother

South Brunswick, NJ - A South Brunswick police captain was one of the several people thanked by name in a letter sent out by Michael Lodzinski, whose sister, Michelle Lodzinski, was found guilty last week of killing her 5-year-old son, Timothy Wiltsey.

Exactly 25 years ago Wednesday, on May 25, 1991, Timmy went missing from a Memorial Day carnival in Sayreville.

Captain Jim Ryan of the South Brunswick police department was 22 years old at the time, and living in South Amboy. He was not a police officer yet, but volunteered with the local EMS there.

When Ryan said he first heard a little boy was missing, he knew he had to help, in any way he could. He was part of a volunteer group called the Friends of Timmy organization, including Ann Snee, Denice Hogan, Theresa Packard and others. Teachers and the principal from the school Timmy attended, St. Mary's elementary in South Amboy, were also part of it, and they all regularly combed the woods near where he went missing, searching for any sign of the boy.

"We just wanted to give them hope and do something to help," Ryan, who is well known in South Brunswick, told Patch Wednesday.

Of course, Timmy was never found alive. In October of 1991, Daniel O'Malley, a Bound Brook science teacher who was bird watching in the area, found one of the boy's sneakers in Raritan Center, Edison, near where Lodzinski had once worked. That sneaker got the wheels turning, although slowly, in a criminal case against Lodzinski that eventually culminated in her guilty verdict on May 18. A year later, in April 1992, a State Police detective returned to the area, and found Timmy's skull and skeletal remains in Red Root Creek.

Michelle's brother thanked all the volunteers in a letter sent out this week. He is the same man who cried out after her guilty verdict: "I love you sis! I love you very much!"

"While attending the trial, I had the opportunity to meet and thank some of the people who helped find Timmy. I would like to take the opportunity to thank all those people who helped Timmy back in 1991 and 1992," he wrote in the letter, according to MyCentralJersey.com. "Thanks for your hard work and determination. Without it, Timmy wouldn’t have been found."

He also thanked the Sayreville Police Department, Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office, New Jersey State Police and the FBI.

"The family is forever grateful to all of you and for all you did to help bring Timmy home. God bless you all," Michael Lodzinski wrote.

Michelle Lodzinski's sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 23.